Is it an indication of Steve Jobs' (in)famous strive for perfection, or just stupid bone-headedness? The white variant of the iPhone 4 was first delayed for a few weeks, but those few weeks became 'end of the year'. Now we know why: the manufacturers Apple employs are apparently having issues matching the shades of white of the various components. This anecdote ties in nicely with a very interesting interview with John Sculley about Steve Jobs' ways of doing business.

So it's no black-and-white situation here; it is safe to say that on average many Western countries are predominantly individualist, while many Eastern countries are predominantly collectivist, but there are other major cultural factors involved too.

If you want to be more accurate, you can say that individualism is high primarily in Anglo-Saxon cultures.